I also wonder what it's going to take to get the General and Extra numbers near par or on par with the Tech. More licensing classes for Tech to General, or General to Extra?

I'd like to see Extra at 25% of all licensees, but something tells me that'll never happen. Still, 18% is an improvement over the 9% or 10% when I was licensed. Certainly Extra numbers were much lower when you were licensed.

I also wonder what it's going to take to get the General and Extra numbers near par or on par with the Tech. More licensing classes for Tech to General, or General to Extra?

The Tech/Tech+ percentage peaked at 49.5% a few years back and has declined to its present level. Meanwhile the percentage of Generals and Extras has steadily climbed.

We are almost to the point where more than 9 out of 10 US hams have a Tech, General or Extra.

Remember that for many hams the license they hold may be enough. Why should a ham with no interest in HF/MF go beyond Technician? Why should a ham who is not interested in the Extra parts of 80/40/20/15 go beyond General or Advanced?

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I'd like to see Extra at 25% of all licensees, but something tells me that'll never happen. Still, 18% is an improvement over the 9% or 10% when I was licensed. Certainly Extra numbers were much lower when you were licensed.

Never is a very long time. You may see 25% Extra before long. The percentage of hams with Extra continues to grow.

When I got my Extra (1970) we were maybe 4% of US hams - if that much.

I'd like to see Extra at 25% of all licensees, but something tells me that'll never happen.

Why would you like to see it at 25%? It shouldn't be. The extra class should be reserved for the best and brightest hams. It would be around 10% of all licenses. It shouldn't be a license you can get after a weekend of memorization.

73s John AA5JG

I have to agree the Extra Class should be something Extra, as in above the average. I have to admit earning my extra under the current paradigm was a hallow achievement.

I'd like to see Extra at 25% of all licensees, but something tells me that'll never happen.

Why would you like to see it at 25%? It shouldn't be. The extra class should be reserved for the best and brightest hams. It would be around 10% of all licenses. It shouldn't be a license you can get after a weekend of memorization.

I agree that the Extra shouldn't be a license that can be earned after a weekend of memorization. In fact I think no amateur license should be that easy to get.

But I don't think there should be a certain percentage goal, or limit. I think it should be something all hams could at least shoot for.

Fun historical observation:

The modern Amateur Extra was created by FCC in mid-1951, but from February 1953 to November 1968 it conveyed the same privileges as the General, Conditional, and Advanced. With its 20 wpm code tests, additional theory and 2 year experience requirement, few hams bothered to get one. By 1968 there were only a few thousand Extras out of over 250,000 US hams.

I remember well how, in those late 1960s, hams much older and more experienced than I said that the Extra was the realm of engineers and professionals, that only a top op and super-genius could earn one.

But then a funny thing happened.

Once the new rules went into effect, hams of all ages and backgrounds simply got one. It turned out the license wasn't nearly so impossible at all. The number of Extras grew and grew all through the 1970s, even before the tests changed, Bash books, etc.

I, being a teenager too stupid to know how hard it was, simply got one in 1970.

How do you know that the average age is increasing? The FCC doesn't record birthdays of licensees anymore.

Not only that:

- Americans are living longer, having fewer babies and having them later in life, driving up the "average age" of the US population. (IIRC the median age of the US population is close to 40 - that means half of us are over 40 and half under 40 years of age!)

- Is the "average age" the mean, the median, or something else? Depending on how the ages are distributed, the numbers can be very different.

- The hams you see at 'fests, club meetings, etc. aren't necessarily representative. Hams who are retired or empty-nesters are more likely to go to them than hams with careers, small children, etc.

- The change to 10 year licenses started in 1983 or 1984. By 1989 all the 5 year licenses were gone. It's been 22+ years since then.

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